TRUE LOVE DEFIES ALL
CHAPTER 2
The large group trudged throng the everfree forest, their hooves avoiding as much thorned vines and leafs as possible, bugs scattering out if their path. Long dark shadows where cast over the equines, reptile and chimera. An owl sounded and their heads turned back in fright. " I don't like this..." Spike cuddled Into the crook of Applejack's neck. "Ah know sugarcube, just a little further, we'll find that tower." The Orange mare comforted the dragon perched on her back. Luna's moon gave them a little more comfort as they where now able to see the path ahead of them. Fluttershy avoided a vine, slowly growing it's way across the path, Discord towering beside her, looking uncomfortable. He wasn't used to things being more powerful then him, so he especially wasn't liking this King Sombra guy. As they warily trotted through the undergrowth strange bird calls sounded that even the animal expert Flutrershy couldn't place. An eery fog drifted above their heads as they traipsed through the dreaded everfree forest. Twilight lead the way, swiftly followed by Flash, Rainbowdash, Soarin, Applejack and Spike, Discord , Fluttershy, Fancypants, Rarity and finally the two party planners atop the party canon. The party ponies,despite the scary surroundings still wore determined smiles that matched the glimmer in their eyes of blue and green. It had taken a while for them to get together, neither had quite grasped the concept of love yet, but when they did, boom, instant relationship! Another couple who took a while to get together was Applejack and Spike, it had taken ages for the young dragon to get over his crush on Rarity, her had been fawning over her for ages, only for her to adopt Fancypants as her boyfriend without even realising. It had crushed the males heart, until a certain farm mare confessed she had a crush on him. It had also taken a while for him to get used to that idea he hadn't even noticed how others felt, he had been so head over heels for Rarity. It just shows, love can blind you. Then along came Fluttershy and Discord. Everyone was shocked, they had known the two where close, but they didn't see it coming when the Lord of Chaos asked if Fluttershy, the element of kindness would be his marefriend. What an odd couple. None of them really knew much about Soarin and Rainbowdash's relationship, actually to them it seemed more a competition, a competition of well, love! But quite the opposite occurred with Twilight and Flash, everyone knew they had a thing for each other, and Kind of forced them together. Of course it was uncomfortable at first, but their love eventually grew and it shrouded the awkwardness. The first pair to get together was Rarity and Fancypants, they taking a liking to one another from the start, it had been what they called, true love at first sight.
Twilight stopped suddenly, her purple eyes widened in confusion. With the sudden lack of movement Flash bumped into her, the pegasus blushing from his clumsy move. The lavender alicorn stared at her coltfriend eyebrow raised before turning back towards the problem. Flash leaned to the left so he could see it with his turquoise eyes. "What the hay is going on up there!" Applejack cried trying to Lean past the three pagasi in front of her, lime green eyes laced with concern. Discord behind her sighed and craned his neck under the fog, but still high enough to see. "Oh, I see!" He smirked clapping his forelegs together once. "Well what is it my good stallion?" Fancypants poshly glared up at the draconequus after the chimera paused. "Well it seems Miss Sparkle here doesn't know the way!" His smirked continued as the lord of chaos crossed his eagle claw and lion paw smugly across his chest. Twilight didn't care about being mocked by Discord right now, she wouldn't let his teasing words get into her head this time. "How can this be! These forks in the paths where never here before!" The princess of friendship worriedly scanned her surroundings, her ears pulled back against her head in fear of failing. Flash seeing her distress, gently stroked her wings from behind. This always calmed her and the Orange colt knew that. Taking a deep calming sigh She turned towards the expert flyers. "Rainbowdash, Soarin, find out which path out of these three is the right one!" She addressed the wonderbolt and the element of loyalty before pointing towards the three separating paths ahead with a hoof. "Aw yeah!" The blue mare turned to hoofbump the cyan stallion behind her before taking off into the skies, bursting through the thick fog ahead, the green eyed colt quickly following.
The rainbow maned pegasus could see the tower up ahead, to them a tiny pole on a hill from this far away. Her magenta eyes squinting as she stared down at the three paths. "What do ya think Soarin?" She asked the wonderbolt beside her who was also examining the surroundings "I'm not sure, it's hard to tell from this far away" the stallion was also squinting trying to lead the paths towards the tower. The path to the right looked like it led to the hill next to the tower, the path to the middle looked like it led right next to the tower and the path to the left looked like it led directly to the tower. They locked eye contact for a second. "So, path to the left?" Soarin asked Rainbowdash after breaking eye contact. "I don't know it seems suspicious to me" she stroked her chin with her hoof as her gaze wandered over the paths again. "Oh what the heck, might as well!" The daredevil pony sighed before grinning mischievously. "Race you to them!" She suddenly called and burst off towards the fog. "What!" Soarin shouted surprised before dashing after her unprepared.
"How did it go darlings?" Rarity asked the two once they had joined the line again as Twilight looked panicked. "Path to the left" Soarin and Rainbowdash chorused as the line of creatures started up again. Veering to the left they started up their journey once again. Pinkie and cheese chilled as the party canon moved for them. The pink earth pony's eyes widened. Both her ears suddenly flopped. Then her eyes fluttered. Then As an ending note her knees twitched. "Uh oh" she tried looking past the ponies in front of her frantically, "Twilight stop, I got a twitch!" Most of the mares in line turned around panicked. "What kind Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "Ear flop, eye flutter then knee twitch!" The mare waved her hooves in the air while she explained. "And that means?" Flash Sentry snorted. "Watch out for opening doors!" She shrilled back to the front of the group. Twilight frowned, touching the ground in front of her with her hooves. After a close examination she took a few steps forward. "Phew!" She wiped her brow from sweat as she sighed in relief when the ground didn't collapse under her in a secret trapdoor. She took another step forward and she was gone from their sights.
Twilight screamed as she fell, her eyes clenched shut. "Um twilight..." She heard a voice form up above, opening an eye she realized she had stopped falling, and she was in a small ditch, that had been covered with leaves, light pouring in from above. The purple alicorn sheepishly stared up at Flash who was leaning in above. Standing up the princess shook some dirt out of her mane, spreading her soft wings in the process. She gently flew up to the surface, landing next to the royal guard. She peered down, realising it wasn't that far down. Backing away from the hole she folded her appendages back into their place on her sides. She started strolling past it, following the path once again, the others slowly started walking behind her. "Well, that wasn't as bad as I tho-" she started only to be cut off as she fell once more. Her mane flew past her horn, rippling as the force of the wind hit her as she fell. Her wings spread as a reflex but it did little as the ground was already too close for comfort. She hit the dusty ground with a thud, pain shattering through her nerves, tingling all the way down her spine, leaving Twilight's mouth open in a silent gasp of pain. "Twilight!" The alicorn heard Flash's call far above her. She opened her eyes momentarily, trying to lift her head up to get a better look but another sprout of pain shook through her nerves, causing her to collapse upon the leaves that had covered the hole. "Uh it's ok Twi, we'll get you out of there!" She could distinguish the voice of Flash as the ruffling of feathers confirmed the pegasi of the group were flying towards her. "It's ok Twilight!" She heard Soarin's voice "yeah just leave it us!" Rainbowdash's raspy voice ended Soarin's sentence. She felt hooves curling under her, trying to pick her up, but they stopped quickly when Twilight groaned in pain, her teeth clenched. "It's no use, she's in too much pain" Fluttershy's soft voice worriedly rang into Twilight's ears. "Ya'll are right Flutters, it's time for your coltfriend to get off his lazy rump!" The lavender pony could easily tell Applejack's voice, and she also heard a thump, which she imagined it was the Orange earth pony pushing the draconequus. "Oh alright!" She heard the lord of chaos speaking before snorting. A clear snap rang out and The princess of friendship suddenly felt like a weight as being lifted of her shoulders, as most of the pain vanished like that. her deep purple eyes snapped open, and she slowly but steadily lifted herself of the ground, dust and leaves clinging to her mane like a parasite. She smiled as she realized the pain had subsides to a dull ache. "Thank you Discord" the element of magic grinned gratefully before flying up to the surface. "Wow, that was a long way down, are you ok darling?" Rarity asked concerned as the White unicorn glared down at the deep hole. "Yes fine, just a little bruised that's all" the lavender mare shook the laves and dirt out of her feathers and mane, the others backing away to avoid getting covered. "I'm glad your ok!" The Orange stallion walked closer to her, nuzzling her on the neck, sending shivers down the mare's spine, also leaving a blush trailing along her cheeks. "Y-yes I'm fine, and you can thank Discord for that" she gently pushed Flash Sentry away, stuttering. "Right, shall we be on our way?" Cheese sandwich interrupted, the party ponies rolling forward on the canon. "Eyup" Applejack strolled past, Spike relaxing on her back.
The moon was high in the sky, leaving ghostly shadows on the trees as they continued along the path. Rarity yawned. "Um do you mind if we stop for a bit, I'm exhausted and I need my beauty sleep!" The diva mare yawned again, leaning against Fancypants who was beside her. "Yeah it is pretty exhausting!" Spike exclaimed from his seat. "But you've just been sitting there on Applejack's back all day!" Rainbowdash exclaimed rolling her eyes at the dragon. The purple and green dragon shrugged, his next sentence being cut off with another yawn. "Ya'll just relax sugar, sleep and enjoy the ride." The cowpony stopped to gently stroke his scales before continuing onwards. "But aren't I-" yawn "heavy on your back?" Spike stared up into Applejack's green eyes with his own dark green ones. "N-no, ya'll aren't at all heavy" the farm pony smiled sheepishly as she struggled to lie. "Oh, well in that case!" He replied oblivious, shutting his eyes. She sighed trotted back into her spot in line. "For the element of honesty, you just can't tell the truth to him can you?" Fluttershy inquired as the Orange mare passed Blushing she answered with a simple "neope" sighing again Applejack smiled tiredly. "I guess we can stop for a bit, after all this is a long journey" Twilight sighed in defeat as she glared at the faces of her tired friends and their respected colts. Relieved the group settled down.
Laying on a fresh patch of grass they collapsed slowly into a fitful sleep, Flash Sentry taking watch. "Oh but this is so nervousciting!" I don't know how I'll ever-" pinkie pie cried, only to be cut off as she fell asleep immediately, starting to slip off the canon. Chuckling, Cheese carried her onto the grass, and lay her on her back, laying down beside her, he grabbed a small blanket out of Pinkie's saddlebag, lying it over them. the two party planners fell asleep easily. Fluttershy shivered as she curled up on the grass, a gentle breeze ruffling her feathers, Discord came up beside her, curling around her fragile body, his snake tail nearing her chin. "T-thank you Dissy" the soft mare stared up at the once evil lord of chaos with gentle teal eyes, "oh it's no problem my dear!" He smirked before lying down, with his magic he summoned a blanket over them to stop the cold. Rainbowdash and Soarin lay down next to each other, their hooves curled under themselves. "Hey I know!" The blue mare cried, "what about?" The cyan stallion replied confusedly. "On how to get to sleep easily!" The pegasus answered cheekily. Soarin leaned to hear what she had to say. "First one to sleep wins!" She exclaimed and before giving him a chance to respond she began sleeping, "hey unfair!' The wonderbolt snorted at his show-offy marefriend before falling asleep Himself. Applejack wearily collapsed onto the grass, trying to gently slide the peacefully sleeping dragon on her back onto the grass in front of her. Once the farm mare had succeeded she curled up around him. She also removed her beloved hat, placing it under her head as a cushion. "Oh mah, uh does anypony have a spare blanket, ah didn't get time to bring my saddlebags." The Orange earth pony remembered, sitting up slightly to ask the question, only for her to sink back down as Spike grumbled in his sleep. "Sure Applejack!" Twilight responded, Levitating a blanket around them with her magic. "Thanks Twia" she smiled before relaxing into a fitful sleep. Trotting back over to Flash the lavender alicorn sighed contentedly and lay beside him, levitating her own blanket around them. Rarity eventually found the right spot, next to a tree and delicately slid down next to it, trying not to get her elegant purple mane caught on any twigs. "May I join you my fine lady?" Fancypants asked and lay down next to the fashionista, Rarity giggling at his question. "You most certainly may!" The White unicorn used her magic to tug the blanket around them.
All of the species gathered there that night fell asleep easily, but their dreams where filled with haunting images of the dreaded everfree forest.